


Drunk on love

by fire_breathing_bitch_queen



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash, oblivious boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 05:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6409957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fire_breathing_bitch_queen/pseuds/fire_breathing_bitch_queen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire has given up drinking but only Joly knows. When he takes the wrong medication he turns up to the Cafe quite high and quite cuddly and accidentally reveals his feelings for Enjolras.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drunk on love

Before tonight, Enjolras had never consciously that about how much Grantaire had changed. Looking back Enjolras didn’t know how he could have missed it. When he had first met Grantaire the dark haired artist had been obnoxiously loud, frustratingly cynical, and either flirting with Enjolras outrageously (the leader thought it was only to make him blush and get flustered) or lazily undermining Enjolras’ arguments with one drawling sentence. He permanently had a drink in his hand and he was the perpetual life of the party. Even one of Enjolras’ closest friends Courfeyrac relished Grantaire’s company and his shamelessly rude sense of humour and seemingly endless supply of drinking games and bawdy tavern songs. But now looking back, Grantaire hadn’t been like that for some time. He still constantly argued with Enjolras, but his smile was no longer cheeky and he’d lost that sparkle in his eye which he’d get when he realised that he was succeeding in winding Enjolras up. Recently he only smiled bitterly whenever Enjolras retorted at him. He still was always drinking, but from a hip flask he carried around with him, and he tended to sit at the back and leave after the serious part of the meeting ended before the socialising began. 

But Enjolras hadn’t yet realised any of that. It was only when the door of the Cafe Musain swung open and he heard the sound of Grantaire laughing that he realised how much Grantaire had changed. And how much he had missed this merry side to him.

Enjolras was standing in the corner, pouring over some documents and Combeferre and Courfeyrac were seated at a table nearby when Grantaire flung the door open and stumbled into the Cafe Musain. He had his arm round Jehan’s shoulder and kept whispering in his ear before breaking off giggling. Jehan looked like he was trying, and failing, to keep a straight face and kept snorting as he tried to keep his laughter in. 

Enjolras watched in bewilderment as on the way to his friends’ table, Grantaire caught sight of another patron’s dog and stopped dead, making Jehan trip over his feet. Grantaire’s eyes were wide and Enjolras heard him coo “look a puppieeeee” .He stretched his arms out and made grabby hands at the dog. Jehan looked worried and tried to pull Grantaire away but Grantaire was already walking towards the dog stooping a little with his arm hand held out for the dog to sniff. 

Bahorel and Feuilly came in and, not noticing Grantaire petting the dog and Jehan awkwardly apologising to the owner, made their way towards Ferre and Coufeyrac

“Evening my friends” said Feuilly smiling pleasantly “where are the others?”

“Joly remains unaccounted for, but it seems our resident cynic has made a new friend” said Combeferre, lips twitching in amusement, and he gestured towards Grantaire who had now picked the dog up. 

As if sensing their attention, Grantaire looked up, caught sight of them and hurried over grinning. As he came closer, Enjolras could see that his pupils were blown, and they had a slightly unfocused look to them. 

“Mes amis! Comrades!” Grantaire shouted “we meet again!”

Courfeyrac’s shoulders started shaking as he struggled to keep from laughing. 

“I have brought an important guest to the meeting. Allow me to introduce Monsieur Buster. He has been sharing some very interesting thoughts on political philosophy with me, have you not my good sir?” Grantaire looked the bored looking dog in the eyes. Courfeyrac was now silently crying with mirth. 

Jehan and Combeferre made worried eye contact before Combeferre decided to take charge. 

“Grantaire my friend” he said placing a hand on Grantaire’s shoulder “are you quite well?”

Grantaire seized the hand on his shoulder and kissed the back of it before crying with passion “Combeferre! For a man so tall you are so gentle” and then suddenly distracted “can we swap shoes, yours have a curious design which I think would suit my feet rather well.”

Everyone stared at Grantaire in bewilderment apart from Courfeyrac who was now doubled over the table with laughter tears streaming down his face. Grantaire greeted Bahoral and Feuilly by stroking their hair and their cheek respectively and then caught sight of a book on the table and became completely engrossed in rifling through the pages, giggling at how fast he could flick through them and showing Combeferre who tried to smile encouragingly at him. 

“Courfeyrac!” sang out Grantaire “you look so beautiful I could lick your face.” Courfeyrac had stopped laughing and was looking nervous, but everyone else, including Enjolras, was now sniggering. 

Grantaire pulled Courfeyrac into an embrace and then looked up at him with puppy dog eyes “will you teach me your secret? Would you bestow upon me the honour of that knowledge?”

“What secret?” Courfeyrac asked him nonplussed. 

“The secret to your beautiful hair” Grantaire whispered loudly. Everyone started laughing harder. “It is like a fair maidens. Far away foreign kings would grant you your heart’s desire if they could have but one lock of your hair.” Grantaire then began rubbing his cheek against Courfeyrac’s chest like a cat. Enjolras found it oddly adorable. Coufeyrac tried to loosen Grantaire’s grip but the shorter man made a mewing sound so Courfeyrac huffed resignedly and then started petting Grantaire’s hair.

“What has happened to Grantaire?” Combeferre had approached Enjolras while he was distracted by the rather adorable sight of Grantaire behaving like a kitten and was now standing next to him with a concerned looking Feuilly and Jehan. 

“He’s just been addled by liquor, its nothing new” said Bahorel looking amused.

“But what liquor would make a man behave in such a feline like manner?” said Jehan “Normally the drinking makes Grantaire sing and swear like a sailor, now he is as tactile and cuddly as a new born babe”

And sure enough when Enjolras turned to look at Grantaire again he still had his arms wrapped around Courfeyrac’s middle and was humming contentedly. Courfeyrac just shrugged helplessly at Enjolras. 

“We should find out” said Enjolras speaking for the first time. “Retrieve his hip flask”

Enjolras secretly liked this happy looking Grantaire though a part of him that he tried to ignore was somewhat jealous that Grantaire had not even noticed him. Enjolras would not have minded being wrapped in the dark haired man’s embrace and having to pet his hair as Courfeyrac was presently doing. However Enjolras was worried that Grantaire was drinking some strong home brewed liquid that might be dangerous. 

Just as Jehan went over to Grantaire to extricate the flask from his belt, Joly burst through the doors and catching sight of Enjolras and Combeferre sped towards them scattering chairs in his wake. 

“I need your help. I have lost Grantaire and cannot find him anywhere. I’ve made a grave mistake and there will be dreadful consequences for Grantaire if he is left vulnerable in the streets!”

“Calm yourself man” broke in Enjolras, he turned Joly towards Grantaire “our friend is here. Whatever is going on? Do you know something about his current behaviour?”

Jehan returned with the flask and unscrewed the lid. Before Joly could stop him Bahorel had taken it and swigged a little back. 

“It’s water” said Bahorel looking confused “just water”

“Are you sure?” asked Combeferre. 

Bahorel nodded and passed Combeferre the flask. Combeferre too took a sip and confirmed it was water.

“It makes no sense” said Enjolras. 

“It does” said Joly looking uncomfortable “It’s only ever been water. Grantaire gave up drinking about five months ago. He started drinking from the hip flask knowing you’d all assume it was alcohol”

“But why?” asked Enjolras.

“At first it was to keep it a secret so there would be less pressure on him if he failed. Then, after he had succeeded in quitting, he wanted to continue in secrecy and he knew it would stop you all noticing he was not drinking or buying him drinks.”

“Why did he want to keep it a secret?” asked Jehan looking hurt.

Joly looked even more uncomfortable “I’m sorry my friends, I have already broken his trust by telling you this much.”

“If he is not drunk then what it wrong with him?” broke in Combeferre.

Joly looked pained “that is my fault. Grantaire came to me with a bad migraine and while I was I was preparing us some luncheon I told him to take a painkiller from the chest in my study. However I fear there was a misunderstanding in following my instructions and he must have taken a tablet from the pot next to the painkillers which contained mild sedatives. The tablet contained traces of opium which may have caused him to act.. a little oddly.”

At this point they all turned to see Grantaire staring at his hands which were lifted up to his eyes and they heard him ask “who has stolen my hands? I do not want these cheap replicas, please would the thief come back and return my hands!”

“After some rest Grantaire will be back to normal” said Joly “I will take him back to his lodgings now to make sure he does himself no mischief and put him to bed.”

“Will you manage?” asked Combeferre.

“Quite well thank you” replied Joly “Please get on with the meeting and I will return once Grantaire is asleep.”

Everyone took their seats as Joly approached Grantaire who squealed delightedly at the sight of his friend and kissed him on the mouth. Enjolras watched as Joly seemed to be trying to coax Grantaire into leaving. Grantaire was pouting like a child and looking around searchingly. After a minute of debate Joly threw his hands up exasperatedly and walked back towards the other. 

“He says he doesn’t want to leave with a pelican, by which I think he is referring to me. He says he wants his Sun God to take him home”

Enjolras felt his cheeks flood with colour as he flushed with pleasure. He tried to curse himself for being so petty, but he couldn’t help but be pleased that Grantaire had not in fact forgotten him. He tried to not be hopeful for a similar greeting to Joly’s but failed, and found himself wetting his lips subconsciously.

“You don’t have to take him back, just tell him that you have to run the meeting but you’re placing him in the care of your trusted pelican” said Joly. 

Enjolras walked towards Grantaire who was now staring down his nose at his shirt trying to unbutton it. 

“Good evening my friend, you had us all worried” Enjolras hated how formal he sounded. 

Grantaire stared up at him for a second, and Enjolras waited for his greeting, at the very least a hug, and was stunned when Grantaires’ huge eyes filled with tears. 

“Whatever is the matter?” asked Enjolras, leaning forward to comfort him but Grantaire turned clumsily away.

One tear had escaped and was falling slowly down his cheek. 

“Why are you always so beautiful?” sniffed Grantaire to the perplexed Enjolras “I can see your halo” and he lifted a faltering hand over Enjolras’ head and made a motion like he was batting away a mosquito or something. 

“Come my friend, let me take you home”

Enjolras felt an arm on his shoulder and turned round to see Courfeyrac holding the flask. His grin faltered when he caught sight of Grantaire’s tear-stained face. He hurriedly put his arm around Grantaire and glared and Enjolras reproachfully like it was his fault whilst murmuring comforts and making little shooshing sounds into Grantaire’s hair. 

“Shall I take you home?” Courfeyrac gently asked Grantaire. 

“I’ll do it” said Enjolras. 

Courfeyrac looked like he wanted to protest but Enjolras widened his eyes to show his friend that he wanted to. Seeing Grantaire cry made Enjolras’ chest twinge painfully in a way that was new to him and made him want to wrap Grantaire up and soothe him like Courfeyrac had done. 

“Look after him” Courfeyrac told him protectively and handed him Grantaire’s flask. 

Grantaire managed to walk on his own, the effects of the drug seemed to be wearing off, but he still looked upset. Enjolras felt too awkward to say anything during the short walk back to Grantaire’s apartment. When they got to the front door Enjolras skimmed his hand along the top of the doorframe to find the key and opened the door for Grantaire. He waited on the threshold, unsure if he should go in or not, but then thought of how Joly was going to make sure Grantaire got to bed so he went in. 

Grantaire was standing in the middle of the room, his eyes glazed. It took a few goes of Enjolras calling his name before he seemed to come to. Enjolras was about to ask him where he wanted the hip flask placed when he remembered his burning question. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d given up drinking?”

Grantaire slowly raised his gaze to meet Enjolras. He squinted as though he was trying to focus, and then the same bitter smile that had come to mar his face so frequently, and that Enjolras had come to hate, twisted his mouth. 

“You’ve never been invisible. How could the sun be invisible? But if you had you would know its better to be noticed and despised than completely forgotten.”

Enjolras took a step towards Grantaire but the dark haired man backed away. 

“What do you mean?” asked Enjolras.

“When I am drinking you loathe me, you hate my arrogance and the queer attention I give you. You belittle me and you berate me. But at least you acknowledge me. Without the drinking I am a grey man who would be part of the furniture to you. I’ve been pretending to drink for months so I can still sometimes garner your attention, even if it is only for you to be disgusted with me.”

Enjolras felt shame flood through him as he realised what a fool he had been. From the moment he had met Grantaire he had been drawn the charismatic cynic. That was one of the reasons why they argued so much, Enjolras savoured Grantaire’s attention so he made increasingly impassioned speeches just to evoke a response from him. He hadn’t thought Grantaire liked him in a romantic way. He thought the flirting had been just another attempt to ruffle his feathers, and he had thought that Grantaire’s admiration for him was more Grantaire’s envy of Enjolras’ blind faith in a better future than anything personal. When Grantaire had started becoming more subdued (Enjolras now knew it was because he had been struggling to keep up the facade after quitting drinking) Enjolras had thought Grantaire was bored with the Les Amis. Bored with him. He had had no idea that Grantaire had been trying to keep up their antagonistic interactions, just because Grantaire thought they were the only interactions he deserved. 

Enjolras was just about to voice these thoughts, and confess his feelings for Grantaire which he had believed to be unrequited, when Grantaire pitched forward and his eyes rolled up. Enjolras caught him and tried to keep him upright. He managed to half carry, half drag the man into the only other room in the apartment which he guessed would be the bedroom. Enjolras had supposed right, the small room contained an old dresser and a medium sized comfy looking bed.

He manoeuvred the semi conscious man onto the bed and took off his jacket and boots. He decided to not undress him any further because Enjolras was nothing if not honourable. He slept sitting down in an armchair with his head thrown back along the top so that if Grantaire had any problems in the night he would be able to hear them and could go and look after him. 

When he woke the sun was streaming in through the window, and the clock showed it had passed midday. He was worried that Grantaire had already awoken but when he crept to the door he saw Grantaire was tightly curled up on the bed. 

Enjolras had now admitted to himself that he, for the first time in his life, had romantic feelings for someone. He knew from Jehan’s poetry that as a prospective lover to Grantaire he had to be prepared to sacrifice everything for him, to kill or be killed for him. He wasn’t sure how to demonstrate this to Grantaire, but he thought that making him breakfast would at demonstrate his intention to look after Grantaire. 

The flaw in this plan was that Enjolras had never cooked before. Or had never cooked successfully before at any rate. (There had been one incident with attempted spaghetti carbonara where he had not realised the bacon had needed to be cooked first. Combeferre frequently reminded Enjolras of this story whenever he had the urge to cook). He had seen Combeferre cook a hangover Courfeyrac scrambled eggs a number of times though and he thought they would be a good restorative for Grantaire and would not be too hard. 

This was vastly over optimistic. The eggs had started burning as soon as Enjolras had put them in the pan and in his haste to get them off the heat he had put his elbow on the handle and had upended the entire contents onto the floor. The pan clattered loudly and Enjolras cursed as hot egg sprayed everywhere. 

“Do you break into all your friend’s apartments to ruin their kitchens or just the ones you don’t like?”

Grantaire was standing behind him looking adorably sleep ruffled with his dark hair sticking up in every direction. Enjolras flushed. This was not how his first romantic gesture was meant to go. Grantaire was still watching him eyebrows raised

“Well..”

“I didn’t break in” Enjolras blurted out. Grantaire had always been the only one who could make him lose him composure “I’ve been here all night”

Grantaire’s eyebrows got higher “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Then a shadow crossed his face. “I don’t.. I can’t remember… last night, I have no recollection of it beyond going to Joly’s apartment.”

Enjolras said slowly “You took the wrong tablet. It made you slightly delirious. You came to the Cafe Musain and I brought you home”

“You” said Grantaire in surprise

“You asked for me.” said Enjolras

Grantaire looked pained “what else did I say?”

Enjolras decided to tell him the truth “I know that you’ve been sober for many months now. You said.. You said that you continued to pretend because you wanted me to reprimand you and get disgusted at you. Because you thought if you were not an object of annoyance for me, you would be nothing.”

Grantaire was avoiding his gaze, his face contorted “Thank you for escorting me home safely last night. Your work is now done, I won’t be troubling you again”

Enjolras started forward “No Grantaire, please believe me you were never, could never be an object of disgust for me. It is true that the drinking frustrated me because it dulled your brilliant light somewhat, but it was because I saw that light, I saw the goodness in you that you angered me for throwing it away.”

Grantaire scoffed but Enjolras continued “ I didn’t even conceive the possibility that you would want me. I thought you viewed me as too harsh and too idealistic and too focused on politics.” Enjolras felt his face getting hot and his eyes beginning to sting. 

“Seeing you last night, hearing you talk without your inhibitions, without the walls you've built up and the mask you’ve created, it made me realise how much I wanted you to trust me. How much I wanted to see the real you, the complete you. 

“You don’t mean that” Grantaire said wearily “ I am just the dull light of the moon compared with the brightness of your sun.”

Enjolras grabbed his hands “I don’t expect you to believe me at first. But everyday for the rest of our lives I am going to prove to you that I care about you deeply, and one day you’ll finally realise it’s true.”

Grantaire looked up from under his lashes at him, and Enjolras could finally see him without the mask of cynicism and bitterness he put on. Enjolras could finally see hope in Grantaire’s eyes as he leant in and softly brushed their lips together. 

 

 

 

Later that day when they finally get out of bed, Grantaire would tease Enjolras about his appalling cooking skills and offer to show him hows its done. This would lead to Grantaire standing behind Enjolras and murmuring instructions in his ear, which would lead to Enjolras turning round to catch his lips with his own in a kiss. This would lead to another hour in bed. Finally they would settle down to eat breakfast after night had fallen, when Joly and Courfeyrac would come round to see how Grantaire was. They would catch sight of their fearless leader blushing profusely and their beautiful cynic smiling radiantly and they would say that they knew all along. Grantaire would be worried that Enjolras would deny it but he would only lean over and kiss Grantaire’s knuckles before suggesting they find new friends. Then Grantaire would blush and hide his face in Enjolras’ shoulder as they all told him what amusing things he had done when he was delirious and Enjolras would find Grantaire too cute when he was squirming in embarrassment so he would order the others to leave. They would exit smirking and Enjolras would pounce and manhandle Grantaire until he was lying on Enjolras chest on the bed like a cat and Enjolras would feel satisfied that he could keep Grantaire safe and happy, and he would finally get to pet Grantaire’s hair and hear him practically purr with contentment as they both drifted off to sleep together.

**Author's Note:**

> This got a bit angstier than I anticipated and quite a lot longer. However I had fun writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it :)


End file.
